Page 18 |
Save page Remove page | Previous | 18 of 188 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large (1000x1000 max)
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
This page
All
|
8
neighborhood schools.4 One study found that children who attended non-neighborhood
schools traveled 4.5 times more miles and as to be expected, were six
times less likely to walk to school than those attending neighborhood schools
(Wilson, Wilson, & Krizek, 2007).
Societal and cultural trends
The effect of increasing distance between home and school on auto
dependence is obviously accompanied by the rise in car ownership or availability.
While a longer distance has forced parents to drive their children to school by
necessity, other social and attitudinal factors also may have encouraged driving by
choice with respect to parental concerns, social norm, or convenience. Particularly,
issues of children’s safety have become key social and parental concerns. It is
suggested that anxiety over preventing or managing risks increasingly has become
central in understanding children and childhood when they are socially structured as
‘at risk’ (Pain, 2006; Scott, Jackson, & Backett-Milburn, 1998). Whether parental
fear of the risks that their children might face is real or ‘imagined’ (cf. Furedi, 2001),
parents’ lack of confidence in their social and physical surroundings is likely to
constrain children’s free movement. For example, concerns about traffic danger and
‘stranger danger’ are most often cited by parents as reasons for not allowing their
children to walk to school (see Dellinger & Staunton, 2002; Martin & Carson, 2005).
4 According to the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), the proportion of
children attending assigned public neighborhood schools decreased from 80% to 74% between 1993
and 2003 (Tice, Princiotta, Chapman, & Bielick, 2006).
Object Description
| Title | Walkability as 'freedom': the ecology of school journey in inner city Los Angeles neighborhoods |
| Author | Uhm, Jung A |
| Author email | uhm@usc.edu; j_uhm@hotmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | planning |
| School | School of Policy, Planning, and Development |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-06-05 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2008-10-17 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Banerjee, Tridib |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Irazabal, Clara Stoner, Madeleine |
| Abstract | Over the past two decades, rising concerns over childhood obesity and its health effects have brought the issue of "walkability" to the forefront in creating a child friendly environment. Particularly, the idea of promoting children walking to and from school has gained widespread support among policy makers, public health officials, civic organizations, and planners as a way to increase physical activity among children to prevent obesity. Recent policies and programs however are based on an assumption about the direct influence of the built environment on school travel mode, of which parents' values and perceptions are considered prominent in determining environmental attributes related to children walking to school.; This research proposes a conceptual framework in understanding the relationship between the environment and children's travel by adding a crucial link generally missing in current walkability research - children. By proposing the notion of walkability as freedom, this study attempts to draw attentions to children's choices and real opportunities and factors that either facilitate or prohibit children in or from actualizing what they value (walking to school as one of many). With this goal, this research explored the elements of a walkable environment through the eyes of ethnic minority children attending five elementary schools in inner city Los Angeles.; Through the triangulation of capability approach, child-centered participatory methods, and ecological perspectives, the findings demonstrate children's capacity not only to observe and understand the environment, but also to evaluate and reflect on making their neighborhood environment safer and walkable on their own terms.; This research suggests a shift in policy focus from the provision and improvement of environmental resources to the enhancement of individual freedom by increasing children's participatory capability. The results of this study advance the discussion on the relationship between active school travel and the environment by bringing children into the foreground within the spheres of ecological transaction. |
| Keyword | capability; children; inner-city neighborhood; perception; school travel; walkability |
| Geographic subject | educational facilities: Foshay Learning Center; educational facilities: Norwood Street Elementary School; educational facilities: St. Agnes Parish School; educational facilities: Vermont Avenue Elementary School; educational facilities: Lenicia B. Weemes Elementary School |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Los Angeles |
| Geographic subject (state) | California |
| Coverage date | circa 2008 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1671 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Uhm, Jung A |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Uhm-2224 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume29/etd-Uhm-2224.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 18 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 8 neighborhood schools.4 One study found that children who attended non-neighborhood schools traveled 4.5 times more miles and as to be expected, were six times less likely to walk to school than those attending neighborhood schools (Wilson, Wilson, & Krizek, 2007). Societal and cultural trends The effect of increasing distance between home and school on auto dependence is obviously accompanied by the rise in car ownership or availability. While a longer distance has forced parents to drive their children to school by necessity, other social and attitudinal factors also may have encouraged driving by choice with respect to parental concerns, social norm, or convenience. Particularly, issues of children’s safety have become key social and parental concerns. It is suggested that anxiety over preventing or managing risks increasingly has become central in understanding children and childhood when they are socially structured as ‘at risk’ (Pain, 2006; Scott, Jackson, & Backett-Milburn, 1998). Whether parental fear of the risks that their children might face is real or ‘imagined’ (cf. Furedi, 2001), parents’ lack of confidence in their social and physical surroundings is likely to constrain children’s free movement. For example, concerns about traffic danger and ‘stranger danger’ are most often cited by parents as reasons for not allowing their children to walk to school (see Dellinger & Staunton, 2002; Martin & Carson, 2005). 4 According to the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), the proportion of children attending assigned public neighborhood schools decreased from 80% to 74% between 1993 and 2003 (Tice, Princiotta, Chapman, & Bielick, 2006). |
